Apple's 'Made in India' iPhone 6S may soon be available in stores near you

Apple was undertaking trial production for the 6S models since April

The second iPhone to get the tag of 'Made in India' after iPhone SE is iPhone 6S. According to the Economic Times report, local production of 6S model started last week at the Bengaluru facility of its Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Wistron. 

Wistron, which will assemble iPhones in Bengaluru, is one among the few original design manufacturers Apple employs to build its iPhones. The company has previously won contracts abroad to manufacture lower-cost iPhone 5c, 5s, and SE devices, while larger partners such as Foxconn have handled production of flagship iPhone models.

The Cupertino-based maker of iPhones and Mac computers started manufacturing iPhone SE in India last May and it is now ready to add a second model to the manufacturing line.

Apple was undertaking trial production for the second iPhone model in the 6 series since April and chose iPhone 6s due to its sales potential, executives told ET. 

This also indicates that with no import duties imposed on the manufacturing of iPhone 6S models, there would be no frise in the locally manufactured iPhones. However, it remains unclear whether the price of the models will get any cheaper or not. On the other hand, iPhone SE for Rs 27,200 but on Flipkart and Amazon, it is available for as low as Rs 20,999.

Business Standard earlier reported that the iPhone SE, which was launched in March 2016, was seen as Apple’s weapon to win in emerging markets. However, the device saw slow sales in India after being priced close to Rs 40,000, a market where seven out of 10 smartphones sold cost less than Rs 10,000.

The made-in-India iPhone 6s will be only sold in India like iPhone SE since it will take time to scale up capacity. In fact, Apple will continue with the import of iPhone 6s until capacity improves. Hence, there will be no price correction for the locally manufactured units. The made-in-India iPhone 6s model will hit the stores soon,” an executive told ET.

With a dip in iPhone sales in developed markets like the US and China, India is now a major focus for Apple. Apple continues to produce these older models in India to compete with Xiaomi, Motorola, Samsung and others in the mid-level market.